Rankin's season under threat

Boyd Rankin, the Warwickshire and Ireland fast bowler, is likely to miss the entire 2008 season after being diagnosed with a serious shoulder injury.

He is suffering from a SLAP (Superior Labrum from Anterior to Posterior) lesion in his right shoulder, a common injury among sportsmen who throw or in cricket bowl, and will undergo surgery. The expected recovery time is between three and six months.

It is the latest blow for Rankin, who impressed during the 2007 World Cup for Ireland, after he spent the winter overcoming a back problem following his move from Derbyshire to Warwickshire.

"I just dived for a ball in the warm-up [before the first day of the championship game against Worcestershire] and landed awkwardly," Rankin told The Birmingham Post. "Then I went on as a substitute fielder and had to dive for another ball. When I tried to throw it in it felt as if I'd been stabbed.

"It's very frustrating. I'd worked so hard. But it's better to have the operation now than let it get worse and hopefully I can get a few months cricket in later in the summer."